


Making It Work

by darkestbliss



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Cigarettes, Falling In Love, Fluff, Hospitals, M/M, Muggle AU, Scars, Sick Character, flatmates AU, pining Sirius, pining remus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 00:25:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8181797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkestbliss/pseuds/darkestbliss
Summary: In a last-minute arrangement, Sirius Black moves in with Remus Lupin.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work in this fandom as I've only just recently gotten into Harry Potter (wasn't allowed to read the books as a child BUT THAT'S A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STORY). I'd love to make some Wolfstar and just general HP friends, so please leave comments and constructive criticism :)

Relationships, of any kind, just about barely worked with Remus Lupin. He could count his successful friendships on just one finger, and that was with Lily Evans. He'd found Lily in the library his first week at uni, sat at a table with an art history book tossed to the side and a pen in her hand, doodling in the margins of a Pukka pad. Although the library was quiet save for a few postgraduate students and some freshers being shown how the scanning system worked, the table with the tall redhead seemed most inviting. One hour’s discussion of art and poetry was what started it all, three years of cups of tea gone cold, film nights that lasted well into the morning, hangovers that could only be cured with time, and a kind of support that Remus never thought he would ever find.

 

Lily was an anomaly, his best friend, his other half, and he would do anything and everything for her, because she already did anything and everything for him. She listened to 19 years’ worth of trauma and illness and anxiety, of bullying, of scars that would never fade, both internally and externally. To put it short, Remus Lupin could not live without Lily Evans.

 

It was all okay, really, even when she met James Potter a year after uni graduation. Their London flat was small, cluttered, and had some suspicious mould, but it was home and the transport links into Shoreditch for Lily’s design job were easy and mostly on-time. Remus was just one bus ride away from the small bookshop he worked in, and the flat had a big bay window he would sit at in the evenings to write scripts or poems or sometimes even song lyrics for the band he would never be in.

 

The addition of James had absolutely no negative impact on Remus’ life. In fact, he rather liked the guy: disheveled, mischievous, sometimes a bit of a prick but with an altogether honest heart.He was fun to sit down with in the evening, share wine and nibbles and watch films together, Lily’s head resting in James’ lap, her feet resting in Remus’. He loved his best friend, was happy that she had found someone she seemed to really like, maybe even one day love.

 

Just seven months after the addition of James Potter into Lily Evans’ and Remus Lupin’s lives, everything suddenly flipped upside down.

 

“I’m moving in with James.”

 

Tea singed the back of Remus’ throat as he choked back a gasp, spilling his entire cup of Earl Grey into his lap and wetting his shirt and trousers. “Excuse me?” he said, gasping for breath as he reached for a tea towel to clean up his spill.

 

“I know this is… Sudden.” Lily’s voice was soft, hesitant almost.

 

“Sudden?! Lils, you’ve known the guy seven months.”

 

“I know,” she said, her lips pursed. “It’s sudden for me, too. But I know it’s the right thing to do.”

 

Remus felt his heart break. This was it; he’d lost his only friend. He could sense tears beginning to form as he choked out, “Can’t James move in here?”

 

“He can’t,” Lily replied quietly.

 

“I… I can’t afford this place on my own, Lily, you know that.”

 

Lily grimaced. Remus was right. Even with Lily having the bigger room and a substantially higher rent cost, he was struggling to pay the bills every week. He already worked long hours at the bookshop, and would be looking at a second job if he were to sustain himself and be able to find a small, cheap enough studio flat.

 

“I don’t understand this. Why are you doing this?” 

 

Her eyes darted around the flat, just past Remus’ head and focusing on the art print behind him on the wall. “It’s… Difficult.”

 

Remus was taken back. “Do you not want to be my friend anymore?” he said, his tone slightly sour.

 

Lily’s eyes widened and she rushed forward to grab the man in her arms. “Oh Christ Remus, no! Absolutely not, no, I could never.” She leaned back, looking into his eyes. Her own were watery now. “I love you so much, you are so important to me and I could never throw you away. Even if you wanted me to.”

 

Still feeling skeptical, Remus raised an eyebrow. Lily sighed heavily, shutting her eyes for a few moments in thought. She shifted, lightly touching his arm.

 

“Something huge has happened,” she whispered. Her voice sounded scared.

 

“You can tell me,” Remus replied, squeezing her hand. “Please, I want to know.”

 

Swallowing, Lily leaned her head onto Remus’ shoulder. Tears were falling freely now, dotting his jumper. “The reason I’m moving in with James is… His flat is much bigger. Better suited for families.”

 

“Lily, I’ve told you I can take the sofa when your mum and dad want to have a weekend in London.”

 

“It’s not that, Remus. I mean, my own family. The one that I’m starting with James. I’m pregnant.”

 

It had not been what Remus was expecting. Engaged, maybe? Probably not. New job? James’ flat was significantly larger and offered more of what a woman with Lily’s growing career would expect to live in. Pregnant… The word in Remus’ mind felt foreign, like he’d never considered it before in association with Lily. He’d known from the beginning, of course, that she would fall in love and get married and move away, but that was supposed to be years off yet, and children were never part of the picture. And it definitely wasn’t supposed to happen just a year out of uni. 

 

“We want to get married first. Before we have the baby. It will be something small, hopefully in the next month or two. I’ll move out then.”

 

Remus was absolutely speechless. He couldn’t process any of this.

 

“I’ll help you find a new flatmate. I won’t rest easy until I do. God, it’s not what any of us expected. It’s so sudden.”

 

“You’re… You’re pregnant?”

 

Lily just nodded. “Eight weeks,” she said softly. “I can’t believe it either, I never would’ve thought…”

 

Shaking his head in disbelief, Remus stared at the lower hem of Lily’s shirt. There was a baby growing in there; one day it would walk and talk and feel and it would be _Lily’s._ It all didn’t seem possible.

 

“Are you scared?” Remus asked.

 

Lily nodded again. “Terrified,” she said with a little laugh. “Happy, though, really happy.”

 

Remus could see that. Beneath the fear that was etched into Lily’s eyes was a euphoria he had never seen before. It made her even more beautiful, more perfect. Lily was happy, so Remus would be too. He would make it work.

 

~

 

The wedding was small and beautiful and Remus was shitting himself through the entire thing. His beautiful, pregnant best friend was getting married and in just a few hour’s time he would officially be living alone. He’d yet to find another flatmate, which wasn’t all too surprising considering his inability to really make any friends. He was just a genuinely unlikeable and uninteresting person, and his scarred face and multitude of health issues just made him a proper mess. It was amazing Lily had stuck with him for so much time. 

 

He looked over at her, glowing with happiness in her ivory dress and her tumbling red curls. James’ hair stuck up in the back and his glasses were askew on his face as he looked at the woman who was now his wife with hearts in his eyes. The ceremony had lasted not even ten minutes, in James’ parents’ garden with flowering bouquets sat on a few small tables and fairy lights strung up around the fence and conservatory. In and out, people conversed and meandered, admiring the wedding and the beautiful bride with her four month baby bump. 

 

Remus recognised very few people: Lily’s family, consisting of her mum, dad, and sister; James’ parents, whom he had met a few evenings previous; and a few of Lily’s colleagues. Just as he was about to check up on Lily, he was beckoned over by the Potters, who were standing with a man about his age with long, wavy black hair and steel grey eyes lined in kohl. 

 

“Remus,” said Mrs. Potter excitedly. “I presume you’ve met Sirius Black by now?”

 

Remus was familiar with James’ best mate from Facebook pictures over the past few months, though he had not had the opportunity to notice how truly alluring the man was. He appeared to have reigned James’ rebellious nature into his entire appearance. Though it was a warm summer day and women donned their big hats and bright sundresses, Sirius was dressed in all black and leather. His face, however, showed only boyish charm and playfulness.

 

“So you’re Lily’s other half, eh?” he asked with a big grin, moving forward to give Remus a firm shake of the hand.

 

“I guess you could say that,” Remus replied shyly. He suddenly fell very self-conscious standing in front of Sirius, in his tattered dress shirt and loose-fitting trousers. Surely the other man was judging him.

 

“It’s too bad you couldn’t come out with James and me last night for the stag do. Was a well good time, mate.”

 

“Yeah well, Lily got pretty awful morning sickness. She always comes first in these situations.”

 

Sirius smiled at this, then gestured toward a table with two empty chairs. “Care for a drink?” he asked once they sat down, pouring himself a glass of rosé wine. The Potters were quite well off, and even though the wedding was small, the delicacies were endless. 

 

“I’ll just have a water later,” Remus said softly, waving vaguely in the direction of the kitchen.

 

“Suit yourself.” Sirius leaned back in his chair and crossed his ankles in front of him. Remus couldn’t help but stare at the man. He was handsome, overly so, but not to the point where he was the centre of everyone’s attention. “So, what all has James told you about me?”

 

For a second, Remus panicked. What _had_ he heard about Sirius? Other than the fact he was a familial disappointment with a rebellious attitude and a knack for getting into trouble?

 

“He says you’re… Uhh… Adventurous,” Remus said, pulling the words straight out of his arse.

 

To his relief, Sirius threw back his head and let out a chuckle. “Fuckin’ James. I’ll have to get after him for not spreading the word about my undeniable allure.

 

Before Remus could reply, Lily made her way between them, sitting down in a spare chair. “There you are!” she said to Remus, kissing him on the cheek. “I’ve been looking for you forever, I was meant to introduce you to Sirius but I guess you’ve already met.”

 

“That we have, my darling doe,” said Sirius, swirling his wine and giving Lily a wink.

 

Lily rolled her eyes at him, but a good-natured grin was spread all over her face.

 

“How’s the little fawn doin’?”

 

“Oh you know,” Lily said, leaning back in her chair, her hand going protectively to the swell of her abdomen. “Making me vomit like no one’s business on my wedding day, but what else could I expect?”

 

“You still look as gorgeous as ever.”

 

“Oh, Sirius. You flatter me.”

 

“Oi!” James had approached and pulled up a chair next to Lily. He gave her a quick kiss. “You stealing my wife, Padfoot?”

 

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Prongs.”

 

Remus had no idea what was going on. He felt out of place, even with his best friend beside him, so he stood up to get that glass of water he’d mentioned earlier, only for Lily’s hand to grab him by the shirt and spin him back around.

 

“Oh no you don’t,” she said. “I wanted to talk to you and Sirius for a reason.”

 

Remus was so confused. “Uh… Okay?”

 

“Sirius is in James’ second bedroom right now, and for obvious reasons he’s going to have to move out before the little one is here.” Remus immediately knew where this was going. “It just makes perfect sense he takes over my room. James and I only just thought of it this morning, I’ve been worrying myself sick over the thought of you not being able to afford the place!”

 

“Lily,” Remus said softly. “You know I’ll be okay, seriously, you don’t need to go through all this trouble.”

 

James piped in. “But the thing is, it’s not trouble. In fact, this is what we want. Sirius is family to me, and you’re family to Lily, so it only makes sense.”

 

Everyone was looking at Remus expectedly. He didn’t know what to say, really, because what other option did he have? He wouldn’t be able to afford even a month’s rent on his own, and he had no idea if any other opportunity would come up in the next couple weeks. So, he nodded, and it was settled that Sirius would start moving his things over the following week, once James and Lily were back from their short honeymoon. 

 

The grin that Sirius gave him as the wedding winded down to an end sent the strangest shiver down Remus’ spine, a shiver he had no recollection of ever feeling before. As he hugged Lily tight and wished her a pleasant honeymoon, the shiver remained deep in his bones as he left the Potter’s, Sirius’ grey eyes still burning into him. 

 

~

 

“Hope you like whiskey!”

 

Sirius walked into the lounge where Remus was sitting surrounded by boxes, a bottle of Jack Daniel’s in hand and a bag of takeaway in the other.

 

“Chicken and veg pie for you,” he said, pulling out a greasy box and setting it in front of Remus on the coffee table, which was the only bare surface in the room. “Fish and chips for me.” He pulled out his meal and then a small plastic container, wrinkling his nose. “And a side of mushy peas for you.”

 

“Cheers,” said Remus, digging in so he could avoid conversation. The day so far had been weird… He’d never lived with anyone but Lily, and he already had realised how different things were going to be after just a few hours with Sirius. Loud punk music had been playing nonstop from a small speaker set up in his room, and there was a sort of clutter already established which the flat hadn’t seen since the previous tenants had moved out. Remus wasn’t sure if he liked the change or not, but it sure was peculiar. 

 

“You don’t talk much, do you?” Sirius asked about ten minutes later. He’d reclined onto the sofa, propping his feet up onto the coffee table. “Not a bad thing, mind you. Prongs told me you’re a quiet guy, warned me not to be too much like myself.” 

 

He gave Remus a wink, and in response, Remus felt his cheeks start to blush. He was in for the long run.

 

~

 

Sirius and Remus had been living together for four and a half months, and Remus wasn’t sure how much more of _this_ he could handle. He’d learned quite a lot about Sirius in the time they’d been living together; he was a history teacher for the local college, enjoyed drunken nights of karaoke, absolutely could not hold his vodka, read quite a few dramatic romance novels in his spare time, and took his coffee black with no sugar. He’d been kicked out at age 16 and grew up with the Potters, and his troublesome nature was something he’d not grown out of upon leaving boyhood. He also had a knack for always finding either an off-license or takeaway place open any hour of the night, and could talk the employee of said off-license or takeaway place into giving him a discount. Remus was sure he’d gained at least a stone since Sirius had moved in.

 

But more than anything, Remus had learned that Sirius was the kindest, most beautiful person he had ever met, and that he was irrevocably in love with Sirius. 

 

Sirius never pushed Remus into anything, he paid for a majority of their shopping, and insisted on covering the bills for their flat since Remus was hardly scraping by. Sirius brought Remus chamomile tea with honey every evening when his throat was sore from talking with customers, would nip into the shops for supplements and the chemists for medicine when Remus was too weak, and would ensure he was in a proper place like a bed or on the sofa when his anxiety got to be too much. 

 

Remus had still not had the heart to tell Sirius everything that was wrong with him, though the immunodeficiency disorder was discussed very seriously the day Sirius had moved in. Lily had made sure Sirius was completely up to date, and Remus had hid in shame when she’d insisted on going over all of Remus’ supplements and infusion dates for the fifth time in one day.

 

There was one thing that was clear; Remus had lucked out and found a true friend in Sirius Black. He’d grown to really enjoy the punk music Sirius insisted on playing just about every hour of the day, and he was starting to find the half empty cups of coffee scattered around the flat endearing in a way. Even the haze of cigarette smoke that wafted in when Sirius leant out the window to smoke was starting to feel normal to him.

 

“Whatcha thinking about, Moony?” Sirius asked as Remus was sat on the sofa, book forgotten in his hand and chamomile tea gone cold as he stared out, thinking about his new flatmate and friend.

 

Remus was startled but quick to recover with a roll of his eyes at the new nickname. “Everyone needs a nickname,” Sirius had said. Apparently Remus’ was ‘Moony’. He still hadn’t figured out why, and Sirius was none the less closer to telling him.

 

“I’m not thinking about anything,” said Remus.

 

“Well you know what _I’m_ thinking? I’m thinking that you’re lying to me.” Sirius flung himself onto the sofa and arched his way into Remus’ personal bubble, batting his eyelashes. “C’mon, Moony. Out with it.”

 

“It’s nothing,” Remus replied with a blush, picking up his book and trying to find where he’d left off. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember what was happening in the story.

 

When he turned back to his flatmate, Sirius was giving him a shit-eating grin. “You’re blushing, so maybe it’s not something, but someone.” At this, Remus felt himself turning into a proper tomato. Sirius raised his arms in mock victory. “Definitely someone. Come on, spill!”

 

Remus shook his head, and Sirius pouted.

 

“Moony,” Sirius whined. “Now I have to keep going until I’ve guessed.”

 

“No, you really don’t,” said Remus. His face felt like it was on fire.

 

“Is it James? Cause Lily may put up a bit of a fight for him. Not to mention me as well,” Sirius added with a wink.

 

“No it’s not James!”

 

“Peter?”

 

“No!”

 

“Is it Lily, then?”

 

“No! Christ, Sirius, would you give it a rest?!”

 

Sirius snickered, taking a sip of his tea. His eyes danced manically and Remus knew he was in trouble when his own locked with them. “Is it me?” Sirius asked a few moments later, his teasing tone on an entirely new level now. 

 

Remus couldn’t reply to this. He couldn’t. He blinked once, then stared back down at his book, his mind aeons away from the writing on the page.

 

Sirius must’ve understood at once, because suddenly the other man was sputtering on his tea and swiftly standing up and moving into the kitchen. Muffled cursing could be heard and Remus suddenly wanted to throw himself in front of the nearest bus. He quickly grabbed his things and locked himself in his room for the rest of the night, nothing but Sirius’ mischievous eyes on his mind.

 

~

 

They didn’t talk about it for a few days. In fact, they didn’t talk about anything. In between shifts at work, Remus would lock himself in his room, missing the lingering smells of cigarettes and leather jackets that had become a permanent resident in the kitchen and lounge. 

 

It was on the third day of no contact with Sirius that Remus began to feel quite poorly. Figuring it was stress from his current situation with Sirius, he pushed through his shift at the bookshop, and treated himself to a hot cup of tea for the walk back home, as his breathing felt weird and a strange sense of tiredness had settled over him. 

 

It was still early yet; Sirius wouldn’t be home from the college for another few hours. A chill was sat in Remus’ bones as he bustled around the kitchen, fixing himself a bowl of carrot and coriander soup with toast. The first track of his Marvin Gaye record hummed from the dusty turntable in the corner, illuminated by grey light that filtered through the old lace curtains Lily had bought when they’d first moved into the flat. It reminded him of Sirius’ eyes.

 

As the soup began to warm, a sudden wave of severe exhaustion overtook Remus. Realising his fatigue was much more serious than he’d originally thought, he sat at the table, trying to keep his head steady, but was unable to control the tremors which quickly overtook him. His lungs felt like they were closing up, and with one big and unexpected cough, he was unconscious and slumped over the kitchen table, “If I Should Die Tonight” still scratching from the record player in the corner.

 

~

 

When Remus awoke, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever felt so exhausted in his life. He was lying in a hospital bed. Across from him, Lily and James had stretched out on a row of chairs, and beside him, Sirius was sat with his hand clenched tight around Remus’ wrist, his head tipped to the side and hair falling haphazardly over his face. Soft snores filled the room from James and Sirius, but Lily was wide awake. Noticing that Remus was stirring, she pushed herself up and waddled over to him as fast as her almost full-term baby bump would allow. 

 

“Remus John Lupin!” she hissed beneath her tongue. “You complete fucking idiot! What the fuck were you trying to do, send me into labour early?! I can _not_ believe you.”

 

“What happened?” Remus croaked. He noticed he was hooked up to an IV and that his lungs felt as if rocks were sitting in them.

 

“Pneumonia!” Lily shouted. James jumped awake, and Sirius shifted around in his sleep, his forehead falling and hitting the wall. “You would’ve died if Sirius hadn’t come home and found you! You idiot, I can’t believe you didn’t do something the moment you started to feel ill.”

 

“I didn’t notice,” Remus said weakly. Everything was hurting and Lily yelling made his head feel like it was about to burst. “I just thought it was stress.”

 

There were tears starting to gather in Lily’s eyes. “We almost lost you. Sirius has been in complete shambles, blaming himself. God knows why! It’s not his fault you’re a complete idiot.” She shifted, rolling her eyes and letting out a big huff. “I need to pee, don’t do anything stupid while I’m away.”

 

Remus watched his heavily pregnant best friend slowly walk away. James was already asleep again, and now Sirius was stirring awake. Remus watched him out of heavy eyes, his heart breaking with every breath the other man took. He was perfect, and Remus would never have him. Especially now that Sirius knew how poorly he was.

 

Just as fatigue began to overcome him, he felt a squeeze of his wrist. “Get some rest, Moony. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

 

~

 

The next time he woke up, it was to grey eyes watching him closely.

 

“Hey,” Sirius said softly. “Lily said I missed you last time.”

 

Remus attempted a weak smile. “You didn’t miss much, just some yelling.”

 

Sirius chuckled. “You _were_ pretty stupid.” The laughter lines on his face were replaced with guilt and anger. “God, Remus, I came home and I… I thought you were dead. Fuck. Don’t you fucking dare do something like that again, okay?”

 

“I’m sorry,” Remus whispered, darting his eyes away from Sirius’ intense stare.

 

“Sorry doesn’t begin to cut it. I was just getting to know you. I’d just realised that I— Never mind.” Sirius sighed. “And then I almost lost all of that.”

 

Sirius looked distraught. His long hair was all over the place and dark circles had stained themselves beneath his eyes. Instead of his usual scent of coffee and leather and cigarettes, he smelled of plastic and body odour. Remus hated it; it wasn’t his Sirius. 

 

“I thought our last interaction would’ve been me being a complete arsehole. I was beside myself, thinking you’d die with that being your last memory of me. It’s despicable.”

 

Though he was weak, Remus couldn’t stand the harsh words Sirius was saying about himself. “No!” he said roughly, trying to sit up. His body protested though, and he ended up slumped over in bed with a sorrow look in his eyes. “Stop saying those things,” he coughed. “You weren’t an arse, you could never be.”

 

Sirius shook his head. “I shouldn’t have left… I was… Fuck, I was so stupid, not to notice and then to react like that and…”

 

Remus’ eyes widened as Sirius tripped over his words for a long while then finally shook his head again, going silent. He hesitantly reached forward to take Remus’ hand in his, intertwining their fingers together and giving a gentle squeeze. Remus looked at Sirius questioningly.

 

“Remus, I… I never thought you could maybe actually genuinely _like_ me. That’s why I was teasing you so much. But when you said that, it caught me by surprise. That’s why I acted like such a prick. And then you were… You were nearly dead and you didn’t know how much I love you and I just…”

 

Lips forming an ‘o’, Remus stared at Sirius some more, words failing to come out.

 

“I love you, I really do. I love living with you, I love sitting with you and eating shit takeaway and watching those classic films I don’t understand but you love to analyse. I love the way you bite your lip when you’re thinking too hard, the way you tell me to fuck off but never with any intensity behind it. I love your shaggy hair and your long limbs and all your scars, even the ones I don’t know of yet but would love to learn. I know it’s only been four months but I love you and it took almost losing you to realise that I needed to tell you. And I don’t even know if what you feel for me is the same or if it’s just a small case of fancying but either way, I needed you to know.”

 

A deep wheeze escaped Remus’ lungs as he attempted to reply, and Sirius quickly sat up, holding Remus’ hand as he gave a sharp cough. “I don’t want you to get sick,” Remus managed to gasp.

 

“Pneumonia isn’t contagious.”

 

“No but the bacteria that causes it is,” came a voice from the door. Lily and James were coming back in, looking a bit more rested. “Don’t worry though, Remus,” said James. “The doctors cleared us all to be here. Even Lily, and the little one should be coming any day now.”

 

At this, Lily huffed and sat down. “The sooner the better,” she mumbled, rubbing her back. She looked around the room, noticing how close Sirius was sat to Remus and the way he was gripping his hand and both holding intense gazes. Her lips pursed. “Are we interrupting something?” she asked softly.

  
Remus nodded tightly to his best friend, and she smiled knowingly before turning to James.

 

“Love, help me up? I need the loo.”

 

“You’ve only just gone!” James gasped.

 

Lily narrowed her eyes and gave James what could only be described as the _look._ Sirius himself was pleading with his eyes to James to give them a moment, and James seemed to get the memo after a few seconds and a kick in the shins from Lily. They left the room together, leaving Sirius and Remus alone once again. Remus stared into Sirius’ eyes; they were so different from the day they’d first met, less vibrant, sunken.

 

“Sirius?” Remus asked.

 

“Mmm?”

 

“I think I know now.”

 

“Yeah?” Some of the vibrance started to return.

 

“Yeah. Can you… Can you hold me?”

 

Suddenly, the old Sirius Black was back and grinning as manically as ever. “You’re not gonna break, right?” 

 

“Fuck off,” wheezed Remus, a weak smile on his face as he moved to the side to make room for Sirius on the hospital bed. 

 

As Sirius wrapped his arms around his torso, Remus was struck by how not-weird it all felt. They had been an on-the-fence thing for all of five minutes, but nothing had ever felt as right as being held by Sirius Black.

 

~

 

“Sirius please for the love of _Christ_ do you need to light a fag now?! The train leaves in ten minutes!”

 

“And we’re less than a 30 second walk away from the station! Calm yourself, besides, you’re still weak.”

 

Remus rolled his eyes, but slowed nevertheless and let his hand intertwine with Sirius’. It was still new and peculiar, this whole falling in love with your flatmate thing, but they were making it work. Remus had been home from hospital for a week, and in that week there had been a huge amount of snogging, tea, cuddling, moving rooms, and more snogging. Remus wasn’t sure if the number of times he’d been left breathless in the past week was due to his still hurting lungs or Sirius’ ability to kiss him completely senseless. 

 

They’d reached the train station, and Remus paced anxiously as Sirius finished his cigarette.

 

“Remus! Calm down!” Sirius exclaimed, stepping on the butt of his cigarette and moving toward the ticket barriers. 

 

“I’m sorry,” Remus panted, out of breath. “It’s not every day my best friend has a baby!”

 

They found the correct Overground train and took their seats. It was only a half hour journey to the Portland Hospital, but it felt like forever. Remus’ leg was shaking and Sirius was tapping his fingers incessantly, much to the annoyance of the other passengers. When they switched to the Underground, Remus was nearly dragging Sirius through the crowds of people to get a train.

 

“Moony, they come every two minutes!”

 

“And what if those two minutes are the difference?!” Remus asked, pulling even harder toward their next train. 

 

They didn’t talk for the rest of the journey, only exchanging slight squeezes of the hand. As they approached the hospital, Sirius nervously pulled out another cigarette. “Haven’t smoked this much since the day you almost died,” he said, not even a hint of teasing in his voice. Remus pressed his lips to Sirius’ cheek in encouragement. “Any word from James?”

 

Remus looked at his mobile, and shook his head. 

 

“Bugger. Guess we’d better hurry up then.”

 

Once they found the maternity ward, reception gave them directions and they walked down a corridor to find James waiting. Their rush had been unnecessary, they discovered as they were welcomed into the room. Lily was sat up in joggers and one of James’ rugby shirts with her hair tied up at he back of her head. She smiled at Remus and Sirius as they cautiously made their way in. 

 

“Oh bloody Hell you two, I’m not gonna break, get your arses over here,” she said, putting her book down and stretching her arms out. 

 

“I thought women in labour were supposed to be angry,” Sirius said as he gave Lily a hug.

 

“Yeah well, we’ll see in a few hours,” said Lily with a wink to James, who groaned, seemingly dreading the ordeal that was still to come. 

 

It was a long time coming though. They sat in the room with Lily and James for the better of six hours, watching telly, drinking tea, playing cards, reading. At seven hours, Sirius and James left to grab food, leaving Remus with Lily for a spare moments.

 

After a particularly strong contraction, Lily let her grip on Remus’ hand loosen. He pushed his best friend’s hair up off her sweaty forehead and pressed his lips there. “You’ve got this,” he said, smiling down at her. She smiled back.

 

“Funny how fast things move,” she said tiredly a couple minutes later. “In a few hours, mine and James’ life will never be the same. And you and Sirius…”

 

“Yeah,” replied Remus, a grin on his lips.

 

“You really love him, don’t you?” asked Lily as she reached for a sip of water. Remus helped her bring the cup to her lips, and set it back down on the table when she was done drinking.

 

“I do. So much.”

 

Lily blinked, her eyes going blank a second.

 

“Lily?”

 

“My waters just broke.”

 

“Fuck.”

 

~

 

“Harry James Potter, eh?” Sirius said as he and Remus looked down at the small little bundle in Lily’s arms. “I still think Harry Padfoot Potter has a nicer ring to it, but I’ll let you get away with it this time, Prongs.”

 

James rolled his eyes and smiled down at his wife and son, who were both weary but content.

 

“I still don’t know the meaning of any of the nicknames,” said Remus, sitting beside Lily as letting his hand squeeze her arm.

 

“Trust me, you don’t want to know,” she replied.

 

“James kidnapped a deer in secondary school,” Sirius piped in.

 

“Yeah well Sirius was dared not to wash his hair for two weeks and looked like a mangy dog,” James retorted.

 

Lily rolled her eyes at Remus, her face saying _‘see?’._ Remus chuckled, shaking his head and looking again down at little Harry. “He has your eyes,” he said to Lily, noticing Harry’s emerald irises.

 

“He does. Look at his hair, though.” Lily shifted, moving Harry’s blanket and cap so that Remus could see the patch of dark hair that was already growing. Most of it laid flat, but at the back there were a few strands that stuck up in the opposite direction. Remus gave a hearty chuckle, looking over to where James was talking with Sirius, his hand going up to tussle the same bit of hair. “Our boys,” said Lily with a happy sigh.

 

“Our boys indeed,” Remus said, looking around the room. This was one family he could get used to.

 

~

  
Remus’ back was sore, his hair was in tangles, and his bath water had run cold, but he’d never been so happy in his life. Nothing could bother him, not even the fact that Sirius took up the entire bath and Remus was forced to sit in an awkward position. None of that mattered, because he had just had mind-blowing sex with the man he loved for the first time.

 

“Sirius?” Remus asked.

 

“Mmm?” 

 

His boyfriend was swirling his fingers in soap suds, tracing them up and down Remus’ back, finding all the grooves and imperfections. Remus turned in the bath to look at him, their legs meeting somewhere in the middle beneath bubbles. “Why d’you call me Moony?”

 

Sirius pursed his lips. “It’s… Lame.”

 

“Sirius Black? Lame?” Remus teased, splashing a bit of water towards the other man. 

 

“You might not like the reason.”

 

“Sirius… You can tell me.”

 

Sirius’ hand was traveling Remus’ skin again, tracing a scar on his collar bone. “Lily told me about the traffic collision, before we met the first time. Please don’t get cross with her for telling me, I was a bit of an arse about it. You know how nosey I can get.”

 

Remus blinked, nodding subtly. 

 

“It was the night I realised I loved you. A few weeks before you got ill. I’d just seen you crossing from the bathroom to your bedroom. You didn’t have a shirt on, and that was when I saw your scars for the first time. Those ones, rather. And it all suddenly made so much sense, why I felt the way I felt, because you were everything I strived to be. You live with this treacherous illness, you were badly injured in a traffic collision that killed your parents, you were bullied in school for your scars. And there you were, being Lily’s best friend, loving Lily with all your heart, differently from James but in an equal amount, because your love for Lily is different than his, strong and beautiful in its own way. I wanted that kind of strength, to look past on all the shit I’d grown up with. Seeing you gives me that strength, loving you gives me that strength.”

 

Remus felt tears beginning to gather in his eyes. “But why Moony?” he croaked.

 

Sirius leant forward, capturing his lips in a brief kiss. “Because then I went outside to chain-smoke because it hit me how in love with you I was and I didn’t know how to fucking deal with falling in love with my best mate’s wife’s best friend. And I looked up and there was a full moon and it was the second most beautiful thing I’d seen that night.”

 

By this point, tears were streaming down Remus’ cheeks. Sirius pulled him forward, bath water splashing over the sides and wetting the floor. They were an awkward entanglement of limbs as they sat in the cold bath, Sirius holding Remus tight. When Remus opened his eyes, it was to see Sirius’ gathering wetness as well.

 

“Look what you’ve done to me,” Sirius joked. “Turned me into a sap.”

 

Remus answered with an “I love you” and a kiss to Sirius’ wet cheek. It would take another half hour for them to get out of the bath and continue on with their day, but that didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that only a few weeks before had been one of the darkest times in both their lives. It didn’t matter that their first time had been messy and that Remus had definitely strained a muscle in his lower back. It didn’t matter that Sirius’ hair would clog the drain and need to be fished out later, or that they’d spilled an entire bottle of shampoo into the water. It didn’t matter that Remus had an infusion soon and that he’d be too weak to work or even get out of bed.

 

What mattered was that Remus Lupin had fallen in love with Sirius Black, and no inconvenience, big or small, would stop their relationship from working.


End file.
